Flour Flies as McArthur's Bakery Declares War on Russ Carnahan

If the Daily RFT were a bakery and wanted to show our displeasure with our local congressional representative, we'd ply him with gooey butter cake and stand over him and make sure he ate it all, until he was thoroughly sick.

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Revenge, thy name is McArthur.

David McArthur, proprietor of McArthur's Bakery in, among other places, Lemay, decided to go for the shaming route which, we have to admit, was probably more effective in the long run.

The source of the grudge: Carnahan's vote of support two weeks ago for the "cap-and-trade" energy bill, which McArthur predicts will cause energy prices to go through the roof and put small businesses that operate within a very narrow profit margin (like, say, McArthur Bakery) out of business.

The revenge: A message on the electronic sign outside the bakery's Lemay location that read, "RUSS CARNAHAN VOTED TO CLOSE US AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESS". The sign generated sufficient attention to secure McArthur and his brother Randy, the bakery's chief of operations, a meeting with the congressman's local representatives.

As Jo Mannies explained in an article in the Saint Louis Beacon yesterday,

Sought by the Obama administration, the 1,200-page cap-and-trade bill seeks to reduce polluting energy emissions by setting limits (cap), and requiring those companies who need a higher limit to purchase credits (trade) from companies that pollute less.

Although it calls for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 by 17 percent, compared to 2005, the measure reduces the financial pain during its early years by giving out free credits to utilities, among others. (Click here to read a recent nonpartisan explanation of the measure.)

David McArthur told Mannies that the bakery currently spends $150,000 per year just on gas and electric and operates on a profit margin of less than 2 percent.

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The congressman demonstrating his commitment to conserving energy, at least for one day.

The cap-and-trade bill will also affect the bakery's suppliers, which will, in turn, drive up the costs for bakery essentials like flour and butter. Last year, for instance, when the price of gas was at its peak, the cost of 50 pounds of flour more than tripled, from $13 to $42. (It has since subsided to $15.)

"Cap-and-trade," McArthur told Mannies, "is a tax increase, no matter what, from a president who promised no tax increases."

Though the McArthurs consider themselves non-partisan and supporters of Governor Jay Nixon who, like Carnahan, is a Democrat, this past weekend Randy McArthur spoke at an anti-tax Tea Party rally in Washington, Missouri. (The McArthurs could only have been an asset to the gathering: No tea party is complete without cookies.) They have vowed to support whoever runs against Carnahan in 2010.

Both McArthurs were out of the bakery doing deliveries when the Daily RFT called to inquire what had transpired at this morning's meeting with Carnahan's reps and if there were refreshments.